[Lowfer] 474.2 kHz WSPR false decodes

[Garry and Linda Hess]

WSPR decodes are quite reliable in general. When false decodes occur 
they're usually not hard to identify - the callsign is bogus, the power 
level ridiculous, etc. However, recently I've seen a few decodes that 
appear reasonable by themselves, but when you look at others that have 
similar decodes the frequency is all over the map. For example, consider 
WG2XXO by searching the database as 
http://www.wsprnet.org/olddb?mode=html&band=2190&limit=200&findcall=WG2XXO&findreporter=&sort=date. 
Supposedly I decoded this station on Nov 19 from FN30. Strange no NE 
listeners reported it. The callsign is real but the FCC FORM 442 
indicates an address in NC not New England. Others have reported decodes 
for the same callsign but some of them are for 2 frequencies 
simultaneously and overall the frequency given varies wildly.

Other suspect callsigns are WH2XKW, WH2WYT, and WH2WSX. Perhaps there 
are more.

If anyone knows these stations are for real I'd like to hear about it. 
To me these "reasonable" decodes look like the result of RX overload/IM. 
Not sure what the other reporters are using for receive but my eprobe, 
despite impressive IM2 and IM3 specifications, produces IM products that 
can be ripe for misinterpretation. The problem may also relate to 
different decoding software between WSPR and WSPR-X. I've been using the 
latter.

73, Garry, K3SIW, EN52ta, Elgin, IL